The Bloody Toll Bridge Battle

The frontier had been quiet for the last 8 months, since that little incident (click), but the border patrols remained alert. It was in a balmy day in late March when General Douglas received reports of Origawn troops being on the march. A quick study of the reports strongly suggested that they were headed for the bridge near Stone House junction. 

The hidden sharpshooters in the wood caused serious casualties amongst the Origawn infantry while they were searching, fruitlessly, for a ford. The bridge itself was open to the Origawn cavalry.

Word was passed to the local native border scouts and the closest detachments of Faraway troops were called out and started down the road.  The Mounted Rifles and the Governor General's Bodyguard were the first on the scene. The Rifles dismounted and did their best to turn the Hostel into a temporary fort, while the GGBG drew swords and charged into the Origawn mounted rifles, driving them back over the bridge.

After the brief clash of sabres, the cavalry on both sides dismounted with carbines in hand and
 waited for their infantry to arrive.

For a short while, the popping of the skirmishers and dismounted cavalry were almost outdone by the drums, bugles and the marching feet of the infantry, stepping out to get into the action.

Normally the stream was fordable in various places but apparently the heavy snows over the winter had made the fords impassable. It had to be the bridge, or nothing and that was down to the infantry!
(Note: I normally make blind markers for unknown fords etc, but I just rolled when a unit probed a 6" length of water, needing 5 or 6. It turned out, NONE of them were passable. Ooops! Heavy rain I guess!)

And now the bloody fighting began!

Four Origawn units managed to cross and deploy, one after another, under a murderous fire from the Highlanders, artillery and dismounted cavalry. The fight was prolonged and bloody. Late in the day, another Blue unit, the veteran black hats, arrived, having lingered in camp (ie shelf...oops..). 

As the Origawn army started to waver, theBlack Hats rushed across the bridge but were cut to pieces by cannister and bullets. Old Veterans of this action talked for years about "never seen so many 5's and 6's in one fire phase!"

There was nothing for General Lannigan to do but cuss a little, deploy his cavalry as a rearguard and try to get his soldiers into good order for the retreat.

Coming Soon

It's been 9 months since Dominion Soldiers repulsed an incursion by Origawn forces, but the border patrols haven't relaxed their guard.

K

I'm still trying to reduce the number and breadth  of "collections"  a little so that I can focus a bit more on a few and get every collection on the table at least once a year..,..or two.  I have enjoyed the handful of Not-Quite-the-Northwest-Rebellion games but I don't have much enthusiasm for finishing restoration/conversion of remaining antique figures and am low of scenario ideas that I want to play.

To wrap up, I'll just select a portion of the 1st Nations warriors to serve with the Dominion's Redcoats.

Oh look, an 1870ish scenario, all set up.......

Later.......

 "Well, all seems quiet so far, no sightings of hostiles." 

"hmm....", "Corporal, go enquire why the train is slowing down."

To be continued....

Annnnnnd I'm Back!

 Just back from my annual visit to my family, who have also settled in a Maritime province, a mere 500 km trip.  I used to drive it but these days I ride a bus and let someone else stay alert for 5 hours.

A shot taken while on an early morning walk. My brother lives in a city while his son, his daughter and their Aunt (my sister) live in the land of  farms, forests, cottages, and tourist attractions where they were born some 40± years ago.

The first snow of the year is falling prematurely but it should let me get a game set up, once I have shoveled the driveway...and steps...and....never mind, I have a general idea sparked by one of the recent suggestions. 

"Had any troubles from the natives Stationmaster?"  "None at all gentlemen, I think your railway patrols have helped" 

Meanwhile.....wait...did I see something move up in the hills? Maybe I will have a game soon!

Yup. Thought so.

I just need to clear the junk that collects on my table when there's no game set up, figure out the forces, the scenario and victory conditions, and get it set up for Friday or Saturday. (Last dog show of the year.)

Welcome To Faraway. May I See Your Passport Please?

 "No, I thought nought." .... "Bob! Quick! Telegraph Fort Belmont for help!"

A close up shot of a critical point in the battle. 

_______________________

The garrison at Ft Belmont was on the alert and a force under the command of Colonel MacDuff soon appeared to meet the invaders. A quick conference led to a decision for Brigadier Ross to command the artillery and a company each from the Rifles and Infantry on the left with orders to pin down the raiders until they got the order to advance. On the right, a company of the Royal Highlanders and one each from the Fusiliers and Grenadiers, were ordered to turn the enemy's left flank, and drive them off the field of battle.

Initially the infantry firefights were even, but the Origawn artillery was inflicting steady losses on the Dominion forces while their guns had trouble finding the range.

As the Grenadiers deployed and extended the line, the Origawn infantry started a slow retreat, hoping for support from their artillery. 

Once the flanking attack had driven back the enemy's left flank, the order was given for the whole force to advance.

The firefight was prolonged and bloody and the sun was sinking. Who knew if the enemy was expecting reinforcements any moment. 

Finally, the Dominion's numbers were starting to tell. The enemy gun was silenced, and some of their infantry wavered, ignored the orders to "Rally Men!" and then ran! There was only a small rearguard to cover the disorderly retreat but the Dominion soldiers were tired and their commander was under strict orders not to cross the border.   

(It appears that the original report that the invaders had a gun and 4 companies of infantry, was slightly exaggerated as only 3 companies were spotted. Oops! ......but it was close with the attacker being 6 vs 4,
so it might have been the intended ratio.)  

Happy Canada Day to all!

 Even to those who have never gotten closer to Canada than a blog or two! :)

As I was clearing up the ACW game, there was a twitch in my brain and my table has been 'slightly adjusted' again before laying out a simple game for my 54's who haven't been out since last September, and umh..this day last year! If I break out the 54mm Dominion forces on Canada Day next year, it just might become a tradition.

Dominion Forces arrive with orders to drive a bunch of Fenians back over the border.

The actual game will probably get played tomorrow or the day after as the temperature in my room is now up into the 30+Celsius range.  (-30C is easier to deal with!) 

Speaking of Trains: From The 2020 Archives:

Lots of domestic duties today, "domestic" including tidying my games room and setting up my table for another game as well as the usual house stuff and errands. I might even get a start on painting something if the various chores leave time, or start a game.....

Anyway, instead of something new, here's a link to a  54mm train game from July 2020.  

Origawn forces had mined the tracks, blown them as a Dominion train passed by, and then opened fire with a battery on the heights, but they hadn't been expecting the cargo to dismount and fight back.....

Here is an excerpt of a 2005 post explaining where the inspiration for the scenario came from: ".......1951 Civil War drama called "Drums in the Deep South". Typical stuff, best friends from West Point now on opposite sides, girl in the middle. However,  one aspect of the movie caught my imagination. The Reb officer has dragged a battery up onto a vertical sided, rocky, hill overlooking a train track feeding Sherman's army, his old Yankee friend of course, is the one given the task of clearing him out. Well, since I now have just such a rocky outcrop, a train, and some toy soldiers...".

Irregular service will continue shortly.....

Before There were Featherstone, Grant, and Lawford & Young.....

 There was:

Yes, that's it but no toy soldiers will be harmed by spring firing 4.7" guns on my table. 

The Bridge Over The River Blutaip.

After the recent drawn battle, General Douglas  (Red) was ordered to destroy the bridge over the Blutaip River near Lawson's Inn. Having gotten word of this plan, General Lannigan (Blue) decided to prevent this vandalism.

The Dominion force had a slight advantage in infantry, but the Republic had more cavalry, so Lannigan decided to use this superiority to seize the bridge before the Dominion troops could start laying charges. He sent his Cossack volunteers ahead to seize it while his dragoons crossed the river to back them up, but they were quickly decimated by rifle and artillery fire. It was not as good a start as he had hoped for.

Dominion fire continued to wear down the Republican cavalry, while the Dominion cavalry took post to interfere with any future cavalry charges.

By this time, both sides infantry were  engaged in a firefight across the entire field but especially across the bridge. As long as the blue soldiers could dispute the bridge, the Dominion Sappers could not lay their charges.

As Lannigan watched his cavalry disintegrate while the infantry disputing the bridge were wavering after heavy losses, he decided to throw his reserve of infantry into the fight. They inflicted heavy losses on the Highlanders, forcing them to fall back. The day was not over yet. 

Alas for Lannigan, while he was issuing orders to his right wing infantry to wheel and attack the bridge while chasing off the remnant of the Highlanders, his army collapsed. All he could do was order the infantry to cover the retreat. Already he could see the Dominion Sappers at work.

Notes: 54mm figures. Infantry and artillery crew mostly converted homecast figures from commercial moulds, plastic guns, cavalry mostly conversions of Britain's figures.

Rules: home rules available here: Defended Border.

Now The Battle Is Lost And Won

It's a bit annoying sometimes when a stripped down, fast play, focus on outcome not process, set of rules not only plays quickly but sometimes, also seems to reflect historical actions better than many a more detailed set. 

Battle report to follow.

At Last!

 A free afternoon! 

We pick up the story (such as it is) as the 2 armies engage. The objective was to capture the two cross roads (see overview picture in 1st post)  and control a route across the table.   The "armies" had identical forces: 1 cavalry unit, 4 infantry units, including 1 veteran/elite unit, and one gun. 

Deployment is complete and the battle lines are engaged across the field.

At first the Dominion infantry were slow to move forward and deploy and it looked like the Republic would win the day, but once all the troops were on board and engaged, the battle became fierce. Eventually the Republican armies had to pull back while they still had enough troops to hold onto their crossroad.

The Origawn forces had pressed the Dominion's line back, but as they pressed forward to finish the job, they suffered heavy losses and had to fall back in hope of a drawn battle rather than an outright defeat.

More important than who won, was that the new 'Fast Play' rules lived up to my hopes and expectation. They are way short of detail and options but the turns lasted roughly 10 minutes each, seemed to very roughly reflect mid-19thC memoirs and battle reports, had suspense and turns of fortune. For the last few years, I had adopted the 15 turn game from the  One Hour Wargame, but having timed the turns, I decided to cut that to 12 which would give a roughly 2 hour game on average. There was a time when a 4 hour game was quite acceptable but those days are gone. 

It was a close run thing but with evening drawing near, and the Dominion troops nearly as battered as the Republican force.  General Douglas was set to launch a counter attack but the sun was getting low in the sky and the odds were against his battered army being able to punch hard enough to take the opposing crossroad in the time that was left so he decided to play it safe and settle for a draw.

So, all in all, things are looking promising, but its only one game so I'd better clear the table, come up with a different scenario, and play again, maybe a bigger one or I may keep that for later. Luckily, I'll be home alone for the coming week........ 

The one page Quick Reference as used can be found here: The Defended Border 

At Last!

Its just been another "one of those weeks" but the rules have been revived, reviewed and slightly revised and the first couple of turns played.  

1st Blood!

To be continued.....

Of Plans and Sober Second Thoughts

Well, there I was, just about ready, except for a few details and a vague, nagging, feeling that I had made a wrong turn. So, in my mind, I went back over various reports and eye witness accounts of various applicable historical actions that I had read, and also revisited various rules mechanisms that I have used or was thinking of trying. Eventually, a little virtual cartoon light bulb popped on: "Ding!".  The eye witness reports made it clear that a large part of those historical actions consisted of supported skirmish lines trading fire with periodic short rushes to get closer and very low casualty rates. 

Turn two: the armies deploy and the Commanders start forming a battle plan.

When you translate that to the tabletop as a game, what you get can usually be described as tedious or boring with a turn or two of excitement near the end, if you're lucky. Sooooo I dug into my rather disorderly virtual file folders to find a saved copy of the rules I used for July's 54mm game which I had enjoyed, They just needed a bit of a clean up and the game was finally begun.  

Blue's Black Hat cavalry gets a bit feisty and tries a good old fashion sword charge against a deployed infantry company armed with breech-loading rifles. I doubt that they will try it again despite Red's lousy dice.

But my time was up after turn 3. It will resume tomorrow!

Its Been A Lonnnnnnnggg Week.

But don't worry, I won't bore everyone with car and health issues amongst other things. As it happens, I still managed to play a turn or 3 each day and rework the new rules, again, and again  and......well, eventually, I got close to what I want and I finished the little skirmish. 

At first Red seemed to be winning, then stalled. Blue followed up with its own assault, but when their final charge was repulsed, the day ended in a draw with each side holding one of the two crossroads.

I might just call up some reinforcements and play out a pitched battle on the weekend. Striking while the rules are still hot off the keyboard as it were. Can they survive? Only one way to tell.

Bugler! Sound the assembly!

"Alright men, the government experiment has been cancelled. Grab a washer and reform into your old 8 man companies."

"Are you boys ready for a fight?"

"I want you boys ready to cross the border at dawn, ready for a brawl with those redcoats. Whaddya say?"" 

 "HUZZAH!!!"  "Let us at'em Genr'l" 

 

AMBUSHED! .....AGAIN!

This game could have made a fun (for me anyway) battle report with a separate behind the scenes post, but for non-hobby reasons I decided that one sooner blog post was better than two later. So here we are with a melange of relevant topics!

My annual review and plan will follow in a few days so let me just say that my 54's are once again going back to individual toy soldiers fighting small actions. (I would call them skirmishes but in this hobby that usually means 1:1 semi-roleplay games.)  This is just the sort of game that With MacDuff To The Frontier was written for, so I dugout my copy of the Courier where the original, Colonial, version was published. It took about a minute for my brain to short circuit and I wondered what the heck I was thinking some 30 years ago when I typed up the first version, on a non-colour DOS (no windows) home computer and shared a copy after a discussion on the rec.games.miniatures.historical news group. (anyone else remember those days?)  Anyway, I started work on a one page set of rules for my 54's and after 5 or 6 turns of changing things (hence the cards showing on the first few pics) and finished with a one page set of fast play rules, borrowing many of the mechanisms in the battle rules. Here is a link to the rules as used for the last half of the game: "On The Frontier".  Now, on with the game!

When the Sapper's attempt to clear the wood failed with heavy losses, Col. Ross, in command of the Column, ordered the Sappers to fall back while supports moved up.   

(**Note: click on pictures to see them enlarged or double click for an even closer look.)

The GG Bodyguards and the mountain gun had formed a rearguard but now pressed forward.

The Convoy escort deployed for an assault on the ford, while securing their flanks.
(This was the last turn of card activation, one unit at a time. The rest of the game was my usual one side acts then the other.)

Ambushed!  Plug the gaps! Forward the Reserves! The Mounted Rifles had been forced to retreat by heavy fire and the Victoria Rifles were sent in to take up their place. The sudden appearance by some of the Hunters, allies of the Kree, startled the Dominion forces and they shifted troops to screen the convoy from this enemy on their right flank. For a few minutes, no one noticed the gap in the infantry which left the convoy vulnerable to enemy fire, not until a heavy fire of bullets was sent at the lead wagon.

"SAVE THE OXEN!"

The  Kree were known as good shots and one of the oxen collapsed, halting the convoy until the harness could be cleared away and some bodies rounded up to help move the wagon. While this work was being done, the infantry closed the gap and returned fire. 

The sun was starting to sink and Col. Ross began weighing the risks (to his career) of  retreating to the Depot and calling for reinforcements vs risking his battered force in an attempt to sweep away this human barricade. The old saw "Faint heart never won fair maid" echoed in his head and he ordered a heavy fire poured into the enemy while the Mounted Rifles were ordered to clear the Southern wood.

 

It had been a long hard day under fire, but the cheer at the order to attack, followed by a heavy and accurate fire, seemed to turn the tables and the enemy broke. (or to be precise, the Dominion troops sudden rolled unusual numbers of high dice and the ambushers broke on the 2nd to last turn). 

Up next:  ....ummh, I don't know! Any requests?

News Flash: Convoy to Ft. Henry Ambushed!

 Renegade Kree have broken the truce! 

Her Majesty has summoned the house. 

Does this mean war or can the treaty be saved?    

That hopeful day 18 months ago.

More details of the fighting to follow!

Battalion! By Company! Reeee_BASE!

Some readers may have noticed that my plans don't always (no sniggering!) survive contact with implementation, but there are some threads that weave through my attempts. Logic, alas, does not seem to have much influence on the eventual outcomes of said plans.

Anyway, every now and then I get an idiotic urge to bring everything into line, same basing, same style of rules,  etc. etc..  Then, I recover and get back to enjoying some variety. This time I caught myself early. My one set of "Horse & Musket" armies for scenarios, has officially turned into 3 because they already existed and I wasn't really ready to let any of them go. So I switched my sights to my 54's. Having stuck them onto bases again a few years back, they weren't really giving me a different sort of game and they were appearing less often. I was starting to wonder if it was time to let them go . 

Battalionssssss, DEEEeee BASE!

Yup, took about 30 seconds to change tack and start looking for other options, starting with past blog posts. In short, overall, the small, story driven, 54mm actions were generally more fun than the bigger, long drawn out battles. So, I decided that its time to downsize my 54mm forces and to focus on small actions, and to once again fall back to individual figures, partly because I like the look, partly because it can sometimes add to the storyline, and partly because it will be a change from battles on a crowded tabletop. 

 

Middleton Hill: The Last Day

The morning was spent deploying the two armies while the generals studied the terrain and the enemy's disposition. With the Grey Brigade having been defeated in the first encounter, (see Crossroad) the Origawn Republic's army needed to win here or give up this campaign and withdraw. 

The two armies traded artillery and long range rifle fire as the reinforcements deployed. With all of their available units now on the battlefield, the Republic launched an attack designed to take out the Dominion's artillery and cut the road, isolating the Fusilier Brigade from their supply line and any reinforcements. 

Casualties were heavy on both sides and soon it was time to go all in, or retreat. Brigadier Strombecker drew his sword and led his men forward to take the enemy battery but despite having suffered heavy losses, the gunners loaded double cannister and blasted the Bluecoats as they advanced.  

The repulse of the attack on the guns allowed the Highlanders to fall back and let the Naval Brigade take their place in the line. The Cossacks did not hesitate to take advantage of this opening and once again charged the gun, cutting down the last gunners  before they could react.

On the Dominion's right, the Fusiliers who had been firing effectively from the cover of the woods, were now ordered to advance, supported by the remaining Highlanders and Sailors. A brief but fierce close range firefight ensued.

As casualties rose and the line started to waver, General Lannigan rode forward to steady the line but he was too obvious a target. When he went down, the line broke, the soldiers pausing just long enough to lift their beloved General and carry him to safety. Brigadier Ross deployed his horsemen to cover the retreating infantry but the redcoats stopped on top of the hill, waved their hats, gave three cheers and then let their enemy go. Enough paint had been scraped on both sides.

_______________

54mm figures, mostly homecast, many converted, but a few original Britain's figures. 
Rules: the latest version of my The Square Brigadier.